http://www.hebookservice.com/bookpage.asp?prod_cd=C6230&sour_cd=HEE034409
Posted on 12/17/2004 9:05:01 AM PST by Valin
Anatomy of a Freeper...
For those of you who just stumble around Instapundit, Hugh Hewitt, Powerline or The Corner, and a couple of internet sites to get your dose of non-Ratherised news, you may not have ever heard of a "Freeper". In a minute, I'm going to use the following example to give you a window into their world.
Freepers are people who post to a rather interesting bulletin board service called Free Republic. A lot of my blogging friends know about them, but surprisingly enough, not very many of them view them as a news source they visit frequently. I think the Freepers are an essential element in gathering news. If you go in with the right mindset, and know what you are looking for, it can be a goldmine of information.
Hugh Hewitt has often called freepers the Coast Watchers of the new media. When news happens, either in print, on radio, or on television, someone will post a link, and much of the meat of the story, as the beginning of a thread. Within minutes, if the story is juicy enough, just like flies, freepers all over will descend on the story and give their two cents worth.
Here's where the discernment of the person surfing has to come in. There are saboteurs who will immediately try to spin the story, especially if it's political, and there will be people from every walk of life taking their shots until the end of the thread takes the original picture the story paints and turns it into a Picasso.
Here's an example of the wit, sarcasm, sincerity, & speed of the Freepers:
11/29/04 In Linn County, Iowa, there is a small town called Robins. Population of 1,806. There is an accidental shooting of Lyle Rusk, the town's police chief, by one of his own officers. The story was reported on local Cedar Rapids television, link here.
12/16/04 10:01PM PST The story is found by a freeper and a link is started. Remember this is a very minor story in the overall scheme of things, so there is a delay between when the event happens and when it's reported on FR. If it's a major news story, a thread will appear in seconds.
12/16/04 10:04PM PST Five responses, largely cynical, have already been posted.
12/16/04 10:05PM PST The first Barney Fife reference made, including this picture.
The neck injury to the chief was serious, and the recovery process is going to be long, but all indications are that he's going to be fine. But when you read that he'd been accidentally shot by his own officer, tell the truth. Didn't this image flash in your mind? If there is a punch line in a news story, no matter how tasteless, at least one Freeper is going to use it.
12/17 12:11AM PST In just a little over two hours, there have been fifty-four responses to the original story. Many have been humorous, many have been respectful and prayerful, and many have been from people who have obvious law enforcement background dissecting how something like this could have happened in the first place.
Remember this is an obscure story. When the Rathergate story broke, there were responses, theories, and updates literally every time you hit the refresh button. Freepers are very much part of the face of new media. They are also very much a part of the blogosphere.
The speed at which news travels on sites like this is the reason why liberals can no longer dominate the media and control the spin to suit their agenda. The news moves too fast. There are too many people who see stuff and post it, and there are too many smart people to praise it and spread it around if it has merit, and dissect it like a frog in biology class if it's bogus.
In cases like Rathergate, a bogus story can be proven false, spread all over the world, and completely discrediting of the original reporter before he/she comes to work the next morning.
Sometimes the content in the threads is not for the feint of heart, but if you cruise the latest topics, you will often find news literally as it's being reported anywhere in the world.
Now matter what the subject of a news story is, some the thousands of member of FreeRepublic are likely to have years of experience in a related field of expertise. That includes everything from landing an F-14 on a carrier, to medicine, to law, to journalism to typing with 1970's era typewriters, to whatever. That is why the research departments at so-called "professional" news agencies are rank amateurs when compared to FreeRepublic.
Which, of course, explains THIS thread.
Excellent oped and insight to Free Rebublic.
We, also, can hear some new BS being spread by local Rats.
Then, we go to experts re the area where the BS is being spread and have it confirmed as BS by the Freeper experts in minutes or a few hours. Then, we can, email that reality to the BSer and tell him to knock of the Dan Rather imitation.
Man, I almost fel as though this post needs a "vanity" tag on it :-)
Gnews gnats?.....:)
But many of them do come here and snatch our stuff and post it on their own blogs just like it fell out of the sky.
The same can be said of some media outlets.
*L* .. he pretty much nailed up
Well it's about somebody finally got it
Methinks ye be flyin' the wrong way 'cross the International Date Line, my FRiend. Hain't seen the MSM coverage of evildoers yet....
Oh dang it
nailed up = nailed it
When you get as famous as I am, you will understand.
bookmark bump
http://www.hebookservice.com/bookpage.asp?prod_cd=C6230&sour_cd=HEE034409
That would certainly be one of many historical FR milestones! (that I did NOT know about)....Fantastic job, sir.
...Is that a FReeper? Where's his pajamas? Where's his beeber? I am stuned.
cruel, inhumane, non-PETA joke:
Why do ducks have webbed feet?
To stamp out forest fires.
Why do elephants have flat feet?
To stamp out burning ducks.
Does this mean we have to give up our pajama's ??
Another thought, you can go all your life without being exposed to conservative philosophy, but unless you're Amish and eschew all education & Hollywood & books, you can't go through life without being indoctrinated in liberalism. Conservatives are more well-rounded and can poke fun at themselves. Liberals cling tightly to the dumb hickseeds mentality.
FR is just one huge mass of real time information, live, the entire country, as it happens. It doesn't get any better!
that I can accept.... its just the whole fly thing that bugs me... something about seeing jeff Goldblum turn into a fly has given me the willies when I have seen flies since!
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